B (5:44)

Well, apparently my daughter was in the Malibu area for whatever her reasons were that night, and she ordered a meal. She started speaking gibberish and saying that she was from Mars, didn't have parents, and she was there to avenge Michael Jackson's death. We later learned that she was demonstrating a lot of perhaps mental behavioral issues. So it's quite possible that she was having the onset of some type of mental crisis.

C (6:16)

She could have very easily, Ms. Sutton, been slipped something in her drink when she was out at this restaurant bar. Gorgeous young girl, she's at this restaurant bar. She goes in, everything's fine. Then all of a sudden, everything starts getting crazy.

B (6:35)

Well, actually, Lancey, she was doing bizarre things before she even entered into the restaurant. She was getting into people's cars and going through their CDs before she even went into the restaurant. I didn't realize that, but let's fast forward because what happened there, the real issue is the people that we depend on to protect us and to serve us as well as to uphold our laws. They saw this behavior, they were told about this behavior from eyewitness. They are the first responders. And instead of Them holding her to be evaluated by a qualified professional. They took her in after making her leave her purse, her money, her debit cards, her cell phone, everything in her vehicle, had her vehicle towed, take her in for an hour and a half to two hours, process her, then release her in the middle of the night with no means to take care of herself, no way to get home. They knew she wasn't from the area because I told them. I told them she appears to be in a cris. But they let her out.

A (7:40)

It's the morning of August 9, 2010. Eleven months have passed since Mitrice Richardson was last seen walking alone into the canyons of Malibu from the Lost Hills police station. Lost Hills. The words sound almost too fitting. Now. For her family, those 11 months were a loop of sleepless nights. But just after 1pm that August afternoon, two California state parks rangers are out on horseback in an area called Dark Canyon. It's a steep, tangled ravine near the town of Montenido, barely a mile and a half from where Mitrice was last seen alive, resting on the back steps of retired KTLA news anchor Bill Smith. Smith's home. The rangers weren't looking for Mitrice. Their assignment that day was something altogether different. Part of California's annual marijuana eradication program. Each summer, rangers swept remote canyons on horseback, searching for hidden grow sites carved into the landscape. Malibu Canyon had always been on their list. Its dense chaparral, seasonal co creeks, and sheer isolation made it an ideal place for illegal cultivation. Out here, rangers were trained to look for irrigation lines snaking through the brush, fertilizer sacks tucked under trees, or makeshift camps hidden in the shadows. That's why they were there. As they rode, the canyon closed in around them. The sun was high, but shadows stretched long across the ravine. And then something caught their eye. Bones. A skull. Skeletal remains. Whoever it was was unclothed, weathered by the elements, and partially mummified. Too far gone to identify by sight. But the location, the size, the hair, the circumstances. This could be her. They called it in. Within hours, word begins to spread. Reporters rush to the canyon. Helicopters circle overhead. And then comes the call Letice Sutton has dreaded for nearly a year. Mitrice's mother drops everything and races to the site. She isn't alone. At her side are the people who have carried this search with her from the very beginning. Dr. Rhonda Hampton, a clinical psychologist for whom Mitrice had once interned, who mentored her closely, and who would later become one of her fiercest advocates. Chip Croft, a filmmaker who has documented every Step of the family's fight. And Tashaka Starwell, a volunteer radio operator who helped organize search efforts in those first desperate days. Together, they stand at the rim of the canyon, looking down as law enforcement moves methodically through the brush. All they can do now is wait. Here's a clip of Latice sharing with reporters while on scene.

C (10:53)

Since the inception of this case, there's been so many different stories, so many, you know, hiding of information. So definitely there's a need to be here to see. See what's going on here firsthand, what's being said. We do know that there are remains that are. That that were extricated from that area, which is not too far from where those terrible murals were found, not too far from where Bill Smith lives. It's not coincidental. I don't think it's a coincidence. So we are definitely taking this very serious.

A (11:30)

Those terrible murals, did you catch that? In the months prior, volunteers searching these same canyons came across something disturbing inside a remote cave. The walls were covered with freshly painted murals. The murals contained sexually explicit images of black women. The graffiti was freshly painted, and paint cans, brushes and other potential evidence were even left at the ceiling scene. Here's family advocate and Mitrice's mentor, Dr. Rhonda Hampton, explaining these murals to filmmaker Chip Croft.

C (12:06)

This culvert area here is where there was the images that were taken by the searchers from our search on June 5th and 6th of approximately 13 African American women with Afros who were nude and in very graphic, sexually provocative positions along the concrete. Here were wordings indicating entering Afro land or something similar to that. Over the side here, it said afro hose. H O, E S. So Afro hose. There was some other writings on the poles. And one of the images was of a woman who was painted blue, kneeling on all fours on her buttocks area. She had a symbol, the letters la. And she had a marijuana joint out of her mouth. That's what makes us think that it's possibly that the person is trying to just talk about Mitrice in terms of the fact that she was from LA and she was accused of having marijuana.

A (13:15)

For Mitrice's family, this was more than graffiti. The location was isolated. The imagery felt targeted and menacing. And when her remains were found that day, not far from the murals, the connection became impossible to ignore. Yet investigators never collected the paintbrushes and the murals were never treated as evidence. So when Latice and her supporters stood at the canyon edge that day, this was already part of the backdrop the murals. The unanswered questions, the growing distrust. The remains were sent for analysis and days later, dental records confirmed the truth. Everyone feared it was her. Maitrice Richardson had been found. Here is NBCLA in August of 2010.

D (14:16)

High above the Malibu hills today, a lone LA County Sheriff's helicopter. Hard to tell if its mission is related to the Mitrice Richardson case, but it's a good guess. It's here among the scrub brush, dusty canyons and lonely mountain roads that Richardson's body turned up Monday. Sheriff Lee Baca says no overt indications of murder, no bullet holes, blunt force trauma. We spoke with a retired veteran LAPD detective about what that could mean. Does it seem to you like she may have been the victim of foul play even though they haven't found any evidence of that so far?

C (14:46)

Well, in my mind, I would start with that she carried herself down a ravine, lay down and died. That doesn't make any sense.

D (14:54)

At KJLH radio this morning, Richardson's father called for lie detector tests for all deputies involved. It would be nice if everybody on duty in that sheriff's station would take it. His contention is that the department is covering up certain aspects of the case because he's filed a lawsuit. The litigation faults deputies for allowing Richardson to leave the Lost Hills Sheriff's station after being released from custody. With no phone, no car or purse, from there, Richardson embarked on a puzzling course, possibly walking as many as 10 miles to the remote location where she was found. She was spotted three times by residents before vanishing. Sheriff's officials say the foliage where the body was found was so thick you needed a machete to cut through it, and it was a couple of miles off the beaten path. But how? And why? Williams, now a private investigator and consultant, says detectives are likely looking at the possibility she may have caught a ride at some point. But 11 months erases a lot of evidence, including tire tracks.

C (15:55)

There may be some tire treads that may. That may be there in a covered area where the elements won't get to.

A (16:05)

In the days that followed, California Representative Maxine Waters spoke out, offering both sympathy and a call for answers.

E (16:14)

I am deeply saddened to learn that the remains recovered in Malibu Canyon belong to Mitrice Richardson, a young woman who had been missing for nearly a year. My heartfelt thoughts and prayers are with her mother, remaining family and friends as they finally have the opportunity to grieve the loss of their beloved Mitrice. I also want to commend the numerous volunteers who remain steadfast and committed to learning the facts surrounding Mitrice's disappearance on 17th September, 2009. While this grim discovery concludes one chapter, lingering questions remain regarding the manner in which Mitrice was released from the Malibu Lost Hills Sheriff's Station and the quality of the investigation that took place following her disappearance. Despite the number of searches that occurred over the past year, Mitrice's remains were discovered this week, mere miles from where one eyewitness reportedly last saw her the night she mysteriously vanished. Notwithstanding today's announcement, the family will not have absolute closure until they know all the facts concerning Mitrice's detention and release. While I am pleased with the level of attention this case has garnered from the national press, I do hope they remain equally as engaged in now helping us uncover how Mitrice spent her final moments. I remain committed to ensuring that the local authorities followed proper procedures and that no federal statutes were violated during the course of this tragic case.

A (17:53)

We'll return after this short break. The creek bed in Malibu Canyon where Mitrice Richardson's naked, partially mummified remains were eventually found, lies beside a secluded 21 acre ranch, a property long rumored for producing pornography. The land has direct access to the creek bed and is hidden from public view. We haven't found any credible sources linking this ranch directly to Mitrice, but the proximity is hard to ignore and so is the distance. Her remains were found, less than two miles from the Lost Hills police station. That might not sound far if you're looking down from a helicopter or, say, riding in on horseback, but on foot, it's another story. It's rugged, unforgiving train, not a place you simply wander into in the middle of the night. Something or someone had to have brought her there. As we already know, local residents reported hearing screams coming from that same canyon in the days following Mitrice's disappearance. Still, her death was officially ruled not a homicide, and investigators concluded there was no foul play. From the moment her remains were found, the handling of the scene was anything but standard. In most cases, when human remains are discovered, investigators lock down the site, secure the perimeter and wait for the coroner to arrive. But that's not what happened that day in Dark Canyon. In fact, despite explicit instructions from the coroner's office to wait, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department made the decision to airlift Mitrice's remains out of the canyon before the coroner even arrived, a move that drew immediate criticism for disturbing or destroying any potential evidence. Here is Mitrice's father, Michael, sharing about the discovery of her remains. And if I'm not mistaken, when her body was found, she was partially mummified. She was partially mummified.

C (20:12)

Bra was not on the frame of her body. The bra was over here.

D (20:19)

Her panties was over here.

A (20:21)

Then they did something so unacceptable that had never been heard before.

D (20:26)

The sheriffs scooped up my daughter remains.

A (20:30)

Put them in a plastic bag, put them on a helicopter, and left against the county coroner's directive of saying, don't touch nothing, don't move nothing till we get there. Sheriff's officials later said it was for, quote, safety, that the steep terrain and the presence of a nearby marijuana grow site made the scene dangerous. But to the coroner's office and Mitrice's family, it was a major breach of protocol. Evidence could have been disturbed. Details about her positioning, her clothing, and the scene itself. All things that could be critical in determining a cause of death were lost the moment her remains were moved. In an official letter, the coroner's office called out LASD for acting without their permission. That criticism would hang over the case for years, fueling theories that something was being hidden or covered up. For Mitresis family and supporters, what happened after her remains were discovered was almost as painful as the discovery itself. They didn't even find out from law enforcement directly. Word trickled down through volunteers monitoring police radios the first whispers of, quote, partially mummified remains in Malibu Canyon. But when the family called LASD to confirm, they were told it was nothing more than a few bones. For the family, this only deepened the sense that things just weren't adding up. Among those who have fought to keep Mitrice's story alive is Cece woods, an independent journalist and founder of the local Malibu woods partnered with Dr. Rhonda Hampton to shine light on irregularities in the investigation and to keep pressure on the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. Over the years, she's reported extensive, extensively on the case and the ways it was mishandled. Here she is in conversation with Dr. Rhonda Hampton, recalling what happened when the family was finally allowed into the canyon after Mitrice's remains were recovered.

C (22:38)

We were called by one of our volunteers who said, hey, this came across the radio that there are partially mummified naked remains found in the canyon not too far from my tree. So we heard that from one of our volunteers. But when we called Lieutenant Rossin, who would have been like McEldry's and Acevedo's boss, when we called him, they denied it. They were like, oh, there were just a few bones that were down there now. I literally saw a screenshot of what was said was out there. These were more than just a few bones. So we had to take it upon ourselves to drive out there, to be there, because then we were afraid. If you're only telling us that there's a few bones, but we're hearing that this is a whole, you know, mummified body, you know, with all the skeletal remains and clothing and hair, if we're hearing that, then you are trying to deceive us. So we. We went and planted ourselves. Now, they only let us go in so far, and they literally had an. An armed officer that wouldn't let us go any further than what we'd already came, even though the media was already there, and we just would not go, and they couldn't get us to go.

A (23:43)

From the start, the family felt deceived, strung along by half truths and mixed messages. Even when they showed up at the canyon, deputies kept them at a distance, discouraged them from staying, and eventually lied about what would happen to Mitrice's body. They were told her remains would stay overnight. A familiar lie. Instead, they stood and watched as her remains were airlifted right out in front of them. Days later, the family and their advocates were finally allowed back into the canyon to create a memorial. But even then, the confusion continued. They were led to one site cordoned off with crime tape that investigators insisted was where my trees had been found. Yet when Dr. Rhonda Hampton and others hiked deeper into the gully, they realized they were standing at a completely different spot, the actual location of her body.

C (24:34)

But during that meeting, I was seating right next to Elisa Fleet, and we were having a private conversation. She was explaining to me that she had when they eventually went to the remains, because a couple days later, they were actually able to go to the site, and they recovered additional remains. Additional remains obviously are going to happen when you have inexperienced and not unqualified individuals moving a body. She was explaining to me where those remains were, and I was like, that is not where we were taken. Because by then we had been hiked into the site of where her remains were. So I knew where her remains were. And so what she was describing to me was a different location. And I was like, it's in the same general area. But Maitrease was in a gully. And what Investigator Fleek was describing to me was like a mound. And I was like, I know where that mound was that she was talking about, because there was crime tape around that mound. So a reasonable person would have just walked to that mound and assumed that that's where my Teresa's body was found, Right? So when we walked in the rest of the search team walked in that direction, but tui walked to the little gully. So I followed tui and I said, why are you here? But they're there. And he said, I don't know. And I said, well, isn't that where her body was found? And he said, no, her body was found here. And I know that because I found her body.

A (25:59)

It was during that visit, as family and friends placed flowers, that Dr. Hampton searched the creek bed for anything that might have been missed. That's when she uncovered something horrifying. A finger bone test later confirmed it belonged to mitrice, A piece of her body left behind. After the official recovery. Who knows what else was left?

C (26:23)

And he has the opportunity, he or they. I mean, we're talking about him right now. So, you know, you have the opportunity to do your job, to do your job well, to rectify some of the chaos that has been going on in this case from the very beginning. You have the opportunity to do that, and you choose not to. You choose to remove her body, Placing her body in the body bag, placing her clothing that was not on her, that it was downstream a bit, placing her clothing inside the body bag. And not only that, there was hair that was kind of throughout the little creek bed. Taking that hair, which you can't verify that it was hers at that point because it wasn't on her head, and putting that in the body bag, zipping that body bag up and sending it off, Something is so wrong with all of that.

A (27:15)

To maitrice's family, the discovery was devastating to her advocates. It was proof of what they had feared all along, that the scene had been mishandled. From the very beginning, critical evidence was lost, and with it, the chance at real answers.

C (27:32)

Very strange actions. On the day mitrice's remains were found, and given the condition of her remains that they were partially mummified, it's like, why would he take the chance of removing her remains the way they did? You know, if there was nothing to cover up, then by all means, wait for the corners to get there. And just like now, you got yourself a real serious pace on your hands, right? So you would think. You would think. So this is at this time a very high profile case, right? You're one of the homicide detectives involved in this case. You have naked skeletal remains in a remote area not too far from where she was last seen. And now you have potentially, you know, her remains. I'm thinking as a homicide detective now, this is your job. This is what you do. This is what you do.

A (28:33)

Well, in 2019, NBCLA revisited Mitrice's case in the video. Their reporter retraced the path she would have had to take to reach the spot where her remains were found. In an effort to show just how unrealistic of a destination it would have been for her. We've linked the full video on our website, sequesteredpod.com it's worth watching just to see the terrain for yourself.

C (29:00)

The sheriff's department, against the direction of the coroner, moved Mitrice's body, making it more difficult to determine a cause of death.

A (29:08)

You cannot touch a body until the coroner says so.

C (29:11)

But perhaps most puzzling of all is just how Mitrice got there in the first place.

A (29:15)

It's illogical to think that my daughter decided to hike up a creek, take off her clothes, go further up, and lay down and die.

C (29:28)

It took us over an hour. This is no recreational trail. And for someone like Mitrice, whose own family says that she was the opposite of an outdoors person, it seems like it'd be difficult for her, if not impossible, to be able to walk this trail on her own. When we finally got there, we found a small memorial put there by her family.

A (29:50)

I see her. I see her in everything that's beautiful, in every flower, every plant, the sunlight. I see her always.

F (30:01)

She's with me always.

C (30:03)

Whatever happened in dark canyon remains, for the moment, a dark secret.

A (30:10)

We'll be back after a short break. The autopsy didn't answer much. Mitrice was found without clothing. Her remains were partially mummified, a sign she'd been in the canyon for a long time, exposed to the elements. There were no clear signs of trauma on her bones, no conclusive evidence of foul play, and the cause of death undetermined. For her family, that word was torture. Undetermined meant no closure, no one to hold accountable, and no way to know exactly what happened to her after she left the Lost Hills police station that night. It also meant the official narrative could stay just vague enough to deflect responsibility to the sheriff's department. Mitrice's death was a tragic accident, the story of a woman who walked too far into the wilderness and didn't make it out. To her family and to many in the community, reducing Mitrice's death to an accident erased the real mystery of what happened to her because there were still too many questions. Within weeks of her discovery, grief turned into outrage, and the community's call for answers grew louder than ever. In March of 2012, nearly two years after my remains were found, the Los Angeles County Office of Independent Review The OIR released its long awaited findings on how the Sheriff's Department handled her discovery. According to reporting by the Malibu Times, Jonathan Friedman, the OIR determined there was no intentional mishandling by deputies when they removed Mitrice's remains from the canyon. The conclusion, it wasn't misconduct, it was miscommunication. Sheriff spokesperson Steve Whitmore told the paper. From the very beginning, the Sheriff's Department did everything we were supposed to do. The report stated that deputies originally believed they had permission to collect only a few scattered bones. But when they realized they'd found nearly a complete skeleton, Detective Dan McEldery claimed he had called the coroner's office and was told, quote, whatever you've got on plastic, just bring it out, end quote. The coroner's captain denies that call ever happened. As CBS News reported, the OIR chalked up the incident to a breakdown in communication between the sheriff's office and the coroner's office. Not a deliberate cover up. For Mitrice's family, though, the result was the same. The scene was compromised, critical evidence was lost, and because of that, the cause of death would forever remain undetermined. For the Los Angeles County Sheriff's department, the OIR's findings were meant to close the book on the controversy around this case. There was no misconduct, no cover up. It was just a miscommunication. But for Mitrice's family and for those who'd been following the case, it felt like another door slammed shut. Another official stamp on a story that never quite matched the facts. Here's Lauren Sutton, Mitrice's aunt, speaking to Sarah Welch of KTLA after the Office of Independent Review press conference.

F (33:43)

My initial reaction is I'm very disappointed when. Very disappointed in the whole process. I'm disappointed when the overall Sheriff's Department, LAPD, and the communication that continues not to exist between the two departments and a communication to my family and my sister regarding the removal of my Teresa's remains.

A (34:04)

Do you still believe that she was.

C (34:07)

In fact murdered in there? Zacaba?

F (34:09)

You know, I absolutely feel that she was murdered. My sister feels that she's been murdered. It was her feeling from the very beginning that something was definitely at Rye in the way she was handled and where she was found. We hiked to the area where she was found. We found a bone where my Teresa's earnings were left by some murderer. What did you think you were going.

A (34:31)

To get out of this, out of this report?

C (34:33)

I mean, as you said, you.

F (34:34)

I need someone to take responsibility. Our family needs someone to say, you know, we did this wrong. They are saying, you know, procedures need to be changed, and maybe we'll make suggestions for that. But we need someone to take responsibility. Someone's life is. Is out, is gone. A very beloved member of our family is gone. So for them just to say it was a mistake and breakdown of communication. The police agencies are there to protect and serve us. They need to protect and serve us. They can't just say our training wasn't proper, our procedures weren't proper. Maybe we need to tweak them a little bit more. That's not satisfactory to someone who's lost a loved one, because we do depend on them to protect and service. That's the bottom line. And. And they're not Christian paper. They're saving people's lives, and they need to do their job.

A (35:19)

And then something surfaced that the department had insisted didn't exist. A piece of evidence that would reignite old doubts and raise new questions about what really happened the night Mitrice was in custody. Remember that surveillance footage from the night she was in custody at the Lost Hills station? We've posted the video on our website, sequesteredpod.com if you want to watch it for yourself. According to the Pasadena Star News, the footage shows Mitrice appearing agitated and withdrawn, fidgeting, curling up on a concrete bench, and seemingly unable to make or complete a phone call. Her mother, Latice Sutton, and her mentor, Dr. Rhonda Hampton, have said she suffered from bipolar disorder disorder. And in that video, her distress is clear. Shirley Spencer, treasurer of the Pasadena based friends group, told the paper that the department, quote, did not even want to admit the video existed, end quote. She said they first saw it in March of 2010 and then had to fight to get a copy, only to find, quote, something went wrong with that copy, end quote. Still, Spencer indicated the tape really shows what she was wearing. It also shows a deputy exiting the station right after Mitrice does. For Latice, that was the moment she truly began to believe something had happened to her daughter. Something that's never been fully explained. ABC News reported that the department withheld the footage for months despite repeated public records requests, maintaining all along that Mitrice had been lucid and coherent at the time of her release. But when the video finally came out, it showed a different picture. It showed a young woman pacing the lobby, pulling at her hair and lying face down on the bench. To her family, these were not movements of someone ready to safely navigate the dark, remote canyons outside of the station. The LAS noted the tapes also reignited questions about missing hours and the department's account. The release video shows her walking out of the station just after 12:30am but her family has long questioned whether there are additional angles or footage that were never turned over. Those doubts were only heightened by the fact that the deputy was seen on the tape leaving directly after her. The sheriff's department has never explained that moment in detail nor clarified whether it was connected to her disposal disappearance. This footage wasn't just evidence. It was a record of a choice. A choice to release a clearly distressed woman into the night without the means to get home. And for her family, it was proof that Mitrice's disappearance was not inevitable. It was preventable. In the weeks after Mitrice Richardson's remains were found, the grief was palpable. At vigils, in council meetings, outside sheriff stations. But this wasn't only mourning. It was anger. People wanted to know why she'd been arrested for a minor non violent offense instead of being taken for a mental health evaluation. Why she was released in the dead of the night without her phone, wallet or car, into a place with no public transportation, no street lights and no access to a phone. And why, after so many conflicting statements, missing footage and unanswered calls, no one was being held responsible. Through it all, Mitrice Richardson's name kept rising. Her story wouldn't go away. Her mother, her father, Dr. Hampton, the community. They kept pushing because the deeper they looked, the more it seemed like something darker may have happened in that canyon. And 15 years later, someone finally came forward with something new. A name, a past, a possible encounter. A man who may have been the last person to see my Treece Richardson Alive. In a July 2024 article, journalist for the New Yorker and host of the Lost Hills podcast, Dana Goodyear speaks to Eamon Murphy of the Acorn. It wasn't a story of a young woman who was mentally ill who wandered into an inaccessible canyon, took off her clothes for some unknown reason and willed herself to death. If that wasn't the story, then what was coming up in part three? A new lead, a troubled past, and troubling revelations about the people who were supposed to protect evidence. Now, over 15 years later, how much of what we've been told can we trust? Sa.